


Clementine

by CaraIsTrash



Category: Coraline (2009), The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Aj is her brother, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, BAMF Clementine (Walking Dead), Bisexual Clementine (Walking Dead), Clem and Gabe and Mariana and Sarah and Duck are friends, Clementine is a badass, Coraline AU, Coraline is a creepy movie so like????, Crossposted from my fanfic.net acount, Does this count as a highschool au?, F/M, Family, Friendship, Gen, Horror, How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, I Tried, I hope not because i have the attention span of a fish, I think this is gonna be a long fic, I'm tempted to put memes in here, Lee Everett is Clementine's dad, M/M, Maybe - Freeform, Minor Angst, Minor Swearing, Minor Violence, My First Work in This Fandom, Not Beta Read, Please read this shitty attempt at an AU, Supernatural Elements, That's just not what this is about, What do I say except please read this?, oh well, they're in highschool
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-16
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-01-14 20:14:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18483565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaraIsTrash/pseuds/CaraIsTrash
Summary: I gave the door one last look. Even if it was boarded up, I felt something was off about it. Like there was something waiting on the other side.“It’s just a door,” I mumbled, closing it shut without the help of the key.~°*°~Coraline AU~°*°~In a lonely house with chipping pink paint, things are starting to stir. Another world, different yet parallel to this one, resides in a small locked door, waiting to be given the key. With curiosity at her back like a looming, sinister shadow, Clementine will be thrown into a wold of her own darkest imagination.





	1. A New Home

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, this is my first work in this fandom! This is also posted on my Fanfic.net account (under the same name). I'm so happy you've taken some time to read this and I hope you enjoy it!

The sky seemed to soak up all the colour in the world like a colossal grey sponge. A soft curtain of mist veiled the lifeless land, as if wanting to shield it from my eyes. Through the window of the car, the aged pink house looked like it had come tumbling from the sky to land in the large clearing, maybe even squashing some poor old witch beneath it. It was all rickety boards and chipped paint and more lined than an old woman’s face.

I could hear the movers unpacking in front of us, bringing inside battered boxes and equally battered furniture that would suit the house just fine. Past the van I spotted an aging man watching them with mild interest. Another unfamiliar face darted in the corner of my vision from a balcony, but it scurried away like a frightened mouse before I could catch it.

‘Pink Palace, Apartment For Rent.’

This was my new home.

One of the two movers lumbered back to the truck, job completed, and the other stood at the front door like a statue, papers in hand.

The front door of the car opened like a river dam, and I watched with a sense of denial as a hand scrawled a signature and placed a hefty tip into the palm of the mover. The bear of a man nodded his head in thanks and retreated to his friend, taking off in a cloud of dust thicker than the fog. I felt a cough rise in my throat just thinking about being in the line of fire for all that dirt. 

Tapping my finger impatiently on the car door, I waited for Lee to give us the okay to go inside. 

With a nod of his head, I was out my little bubble and into free air, the taste of apprehension sour on my tongue and the heavy chains of homesickness weighing me down. I wasn’t one to dwell though, so I did my best to unlock the chains and step away from the car, maybe even gargle salt water to get the unpleasant taste from my mouth.

I trusted Lee with everything I had, so if he decided that this ghost manor was best for us, I wouldn’t complain.

I felt a small hand enter mine, a soft smile curling the ends of my lips. Unfortunately, I had other things on my mind and not the little boy next to me. 

I felt a prickling at the base of my neck, my body telling me to turn around. On instinct I twisted my head and narrowed my eyes at the offending bushes behind me, but a tug brought my feet away and with AJ into the house.

“Do you think it’s haunted?” AJ said, curiously trailing the door with his eyes as we crossed the threshold.

The chill that ran down my spine told me yes but my mouth said, “It seems like just a creepy old house to me.”

AJ nodded, taking my word as law.

I didn’t particularly want to stay inside. The air was stale and musky, like an old perfume that was meant to cover up the smell of something disgusting. Fresh air and open spaces was what I needed, and some time alone to clear my head of cobwebs.

“Are you going on patrol?” AJ asked with his arms crossed almost accusingly.

When he was little I would say I was ‘going on patrol’ when I went outside alone. Back then he was too small to realise that I could want a moment alone, and so I made up a little adventure to tell him every time I came back inside. The name stuck, even when he grew older and knew what I meant. I loved my brother and cherished the time I spent with him, but even your favorite song got repetitive sometimes.

“I think so goofball,” I said, ruffling a hand through his hair. “I’ll tell you if I find any of those ghosts.”

AJ nodded running over to Lee, probably to ask where his Disco Broccoli action figure was buried in the boxes.

There wasn’t much outside that was any different from the last time I was there. The wind still blew in rattling breaths, as if the land was a dying man trying to speak his last words. It was muddier than I’d given it credit for. 

I saw a small turtle shell lying in a birdbath, a twitch of excitement building at the base on my neck. If the shell held a turtle, AJ would finally have that pet he always wanted, and if it was empty, we had a new souvenir to add to the collection. Either way I won. I slowly marched to the shell and held it up for inspection. Seeing nothing inside, I placed it in the backpack I was carrying.

As autumn leaves swirled up from the ground in a tornado of sunset colours, I thought about the well Lee had mentioned to me on the long drive to the ‘Pink Palace’. It wouldn’t be too out of my way, should I find it quickly and not get lost. Lee would call me back if I took too long, so I trusted that he’d ring my phone when I was running out of time.

Picking up a forked stick for the hell of it, I used it as a dowsing rod once I passed by an old and dying bridge. Everything about the world here seemed to fall flat, as if I was the only thing in colour in a black and white movie. With my yellow rain coat, green boots, blue cap and pink hair tie, I felt like a rainbow drawn on a white piece of paper. 

As I walked, the sky grew dark with a gathering storm, warning me to pick up my pace down the hillside. I felt that sensation again, running down my back and raising my hairs on end. 

I felt like I was being watched.

Being watched was a strange feeling, but not a pleasant one in any capacity. It felt like being in a private conversation with a pair of ears listening in, or having someone search through your memories and taint them with their presence. It was a cold feeling. One sending chills down my skin and hiking my shoulders closer to my ears.

I pretended to get my foot stuck in a puddle of mud to see if anyone would reveal themselves. After a few seconds, I saw rocks tumbling from their perch and I swung around to catch any glimpse of my stalker.

“Hello?... Who’s there?” I called out warily, with a cold tone of warning lacing my words.

With no response I picked up a stone and lobbed it over the wall with a decent amount of precision. A small but sharp cry accompanied by a soft thud told me I’d hit my mark. What my mark was, however, I didn’t know. It sounded close enough to human, but it could’ve really been anything.

Standing a moment longer to see if anything rose, I huffed in irritation. It was probably some stupid animal, maybe a rabbit or a deer.

“I know you’re there,” I said, just to be sure.

No one came out from behind the wall except a small cat that jumped gracefully onto the stone wall, a small purple name tag bouncing on it’s collar. Its grey irises seemed to match the colourless sky above me, and even when it licked its paws in a way that seemed almost bored, it never pealed it’s eyes from me. It seemed like the cat wanted to start a staring contest that it knew it would win. Maybe it was to creep me out or show some sort of dislike, because the thing looked uncaring, if not hostile.

“Mangy cat,” I muttered to myself, but the cat narrowed its eyes at me as if it had heard and took offence.

“Sorry… “ I said as I passed it, more than eager to leave the blond feline’s ever watching eyes. 

Yet even as I trailed out of sight, looking for an elusive holy grail, I couldn’t shake of the feeling that I was still being followed.


	2. A New Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New house, new people. Clementine meets a neighbour as she explores her new home.

“Oh magic dowsing rod, show me what I seek,” I said sarcastically, trudging through mud.

I’d chased the whims of the universe to the middle of an orchid, thick with fog and thicker with wicked intent. Dead trees stood hunched over like old men and women leaving a funeral. It was practically a horror movie set, but I was sixteen years old, so instead of sticking around to be murdered by some crazy person, I decide that my quest was best left uncompleted. 

“Okay Clementine, where’s home?” I said, opening up my phone and searching for maps.

No service.

“Okay…” I shoved the device into my raincoat pocket. “The old fashioned way it is.”

I took a good look around and tried to spy something like a marker. If I had any hope of getting back home, I’d need to find something that stood out in this vast wasteland. There was a rock behind me, but that was in the opposite direction that I came, so I had my back to it. I needed something I would have seen before on my way here…

“Great,” I said, crossing my arms, “you’re lost… And talking to yourself.”

The dowsing rod hung limply from my grip as I studied it as if it was at fault. How typical of me to get lost the first day. I was like a black cat, only bad luck, and not only to myself if I wanted to start going there.

Slowly, the storm clouds in the sky started to weep as if invited to the same funeral that the hunched trees were. I didn’t think I could be any gladder for my practical attire, but there I was, thanking Lee for insisting I wear it. The rain and thunder seemed to drown out any other sound in the world, leaving it full of static and grey as a mouse’s pelt. 

Then I wasn’t quite alone anymore.

My hair suddenly stuck up at the back of my neck, an ungodly shiver running down my spine. The dowsing rod was plucked from my fingers with deadly grace before I could react, a dark shadow looming over me like death itself. Fear in all it’s glory smashed into the base of my neck, like a hand squeezing my throat tight.

Before I could wait to be stabbed or something, I slammed my elbow behind me into the mystery man’s jaw and stamped his foot, darting away before he could recover.

“OW!” The guy cloaked in black shouted in surprise.

I didn’t let myself feel sympathy for him, even if I could imagine his face wincing behind the skull mask. 

“What the fuck do you want?” I growled, turning around so I could land another punch if he came any closer.

“Well, I wanted to tell you that dowsing rods are just bendy sticks,” his voice was light and tinkling as if made of bells and piano keys, “but now I’m afraid you’ll sock me in the jaw again if I dare.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, but slowly brought my arms to my sides.

He was taller than me that was for sure. I had first thought him a grown man, but his voice, demeanor and way of speaking told me otherwise. I couldn’t see much past the jacket and mask, but what I did was wiry and dark. I could probably throw him like a beanbag, so I deemed him as ‘not very threatening’ but most certainly creepy.

He took his mask off to expose a head of dark brown dreads and gave me a nervous and slightly awkward smile, as if he was only then realised he should feel guilty for scaring me.

I marched up to him and snatched the dowsing rod out of his hands, making sure he caught my glare, “I don’t appreciate being stalked by teenaged boys and their cats.”

The blond cat I’d seen on the wall earlier stuck its tongue out.

“Well, she’s not really my cat,” he said, oblivious to anything but my comment on the feline, “she’s basically feral,” the cat hissed at him from behind his legs in offence. “Of course, I am the one who feeds her and every once in a while she’ll bring me a dead bird in thanks, but otherwise she’s an independent woman.”

The cat gave me a once over before nudging into the boy’s leg, as if trying to tell him something.

“Well, I guess you were right about the dowsing rod,” I conceded, tossing it over my shoulder. I could teach this guy some manners another time. “I don’t seem too close to a well right about now.”

The boy raised his eyebrows, “Oh really?”

He moved to the side in a sweeping movement, as if presenting to me what lay behind him. At first I only saw that random rock, but then I felt stupid to realise it wasn’t a rock at all. It was the stone sides of an old well, the wooden top previously hidden from view now on full display. The boy grabbed a stick and wedged it under the lid, heaving it off in one motion, leaving the endless darkness beneath it to look at the sky above.

“Supposed to be so deep if you fell to the bottom and looked up, you'd see a sky full of stars in the middle of the day,” he said, studying me with a smile as I peered in.

“I see how someone could think that,” I said.

The boy took the stick away and pushed the wood back over the hole. I finally let my shoulders relax, telling myself that as weird as this guy seemed, he didn’t have any ulterior motives. You couldn’t be too careful, but I decided that for the moment I could give him the benefit of the doubt. Even if he was up to something, I was pretty sure those martial arts lessons Lee made me take were good for something.

I glanced down and saw the cat staring at me as if she didn’t approve of my life choices and was asking me why I was still hanging around her owner.

To which I gave her a look that said, I don’t know either.

“Not gonna lie, I’m surprised she let you move in…” The boy said, staring in the general direction of the house.

I gave him a questioning look.

“Aunt Minnie doesn’t usually let people with kids rent the place out,” he put his hands on his hips, hardly noticing the action. “I mean, except my friend Marlon, but he’s only here half the time.”

“What do you mean?” I joined him in looking through the fog and imagining the pink monstrosity.

“About the renting thing or Marlon?”

I give him an unimpressed look.

“Right, the renting thing…” he said as if silently wishing he was never born. “I’m not really supposed to talk about it.”

Changing the subject, he lifts a gloved hand for her to shake, “I’m Louis, Louis Molendoy.”

“Clementine,” I shook his hand.

“As in,” he grinned, “’Oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling Clementine!’”

I let loose a small smile, “That’s the song.”

God, it brought back memories. My parents singing it to put me to sleep, kids at my elementary school crying it out at my birthday, and even AJ coming to me after school and asking if I knew I had a song named after me. 

“You were lost and gone forever, dreadful sorrow, Clementine.”

“If you sing it every time, I may need to sew your mouth shut,” I said warningly, but I couldn’t stop smiling.

“But how would I eat?” he challenged.

“I’ll add a zipper.”

Louis opened his mouth to reply with what he would probably think was a witty comeback, but a voice interrupted it, sounding far away enough to have come from the house.

“LOUIS!”

Louis grimaced at the volume, but made a valiant effort to ignore it.

“I think someone’s calling you, Louis,” I said.

“What? I didn’t hear anything,” Louis said back, eyes looking anywhere but in my direction.

“LOUIS!” the voice said again.

“Minnie!” he shouted back in an embarrassed tone.

I snorted.

He turned back to me and held his hands up in mock surrender, forcing an awkward laugh, “Well, it was nice meeting you Clementine.”

He placed the mask back over his head and as he left, he shot a comment over his shoulder, “Maybe next time you should wear gloves.”

“Why?” I said.

Louis looked down at the stick by my feet, “’Cause that dowsing rod of yours is made of poison oak.”

I cried in alarm, scrunching up my nose as if I smelt something disgusting. I hoped to wipe off all the poison on my raincoat, but I’d been holding the stick for a while, so I knew it was in vain. When I looked up, Louis had vanished into thin air.

“Meow,” the cat eyed my hands then stared after Louis as if she was going to go tell him off.

“I don’t suppose you have anything that would help?” I said, and the cat actually turned its head to me.

Then it left.

I sighed, following the general direction it had trotted off in, but not before glancing back at the well one last time. It truly did seem endless. 

A single raindrop fell from the heavens straight through the wooden lid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> °•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•
> 
> Hello and welcome back! More characters have been introduced, are you surprised with who took which role? Did this live up to expectation? Was the characterisation okay? Did you like it? Find a spelling mistake? Have anything to comment? Have any suggestion for the other characters? Can you guys guess where I got Louis’ last name? I’ll reveal it in the next chapter (it’s not that interesting, but if you need a reason to keep reading you now have one). I do hope you’ve enjoyed this AU thus far and will stick around to see the end! Thank you!


	3. Old Problems

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clementine tries to settle into the 'Pink Palace' but surprises and old grievances keep her on her toes.

“Hey Lee?” I said, eyeing the rash on my hands as I stacked a few boxes on top of one another.

“Yeah sweatpea?” he said absently, frowning at his laptop.

“Everything alright with work?” I sat down in front of him at the small un-kept kitchen table.

The kitchen, like the rest of the house, was old and dusty. Yesterday hadn’t amounted to much and so today was the day we were supposed to fix up the place. Unfortunately, Lee got an important e-mail from the university and AJ was messing about somewhere in the house, which left me to get everything done.

“Yeah…” he frowned deeper and typed away faster.

“I hope so,” I said. “The whole reason we moved was to make it easier for you with the new promotion. If you’re having trouble, you can say so.”

That was a bit of a lie about the reason we moved. Not that I’d tell Lee I knew it. He had enough on his plate already.

“Everything’s okay Clem,” Lee looked up briefly to offer me a reassuring smile that did the opposite. It only made the lines and bags around his eyes look worse.

The ringing of the phone interrupted our little moment and for a second Lee just stared at it as if it was going to bite his hand off if he touched it. I grabbed it and glanced at the caller ID, my lips twitching down when I saw who was calling.

“It’s the snake,” I said, handing him the device.

He smiled, an actual genuine smile, at the name I’d given his ex-wife, “Don’t let her hear you say that.”

“I don’t care what she thinks of me,” I said.

Lee sighed, looking at the phone with regret before answering it, “Lee here.”

As a woman’s voice echoed through the phone Lee put a hand over the speaker and turned to me, “A boy dropped off a package earlier. It’s on the desk if you want it.”

I rolled my eyes, “Great, he’s back.”

Lee chuckled, a sound that was becoming less and less frequent, “It seems like you’ve made a friend whether you want to or not.”

I shook my head but he wasn’t looking, instead he was completely adsorbed into his ex-wife’s shrill voice.

God, I hated Aubrey. She’d been perfect when Lee first took me in. She’d been kind, caring, funny, helpful and everything I could have ever wanted. Then I started to grow up, and slowly I realised that the Aubrey I had come to know was far different from the one she really was. Then there was the cheating, the long time where neither Lee nor Aubrey knew what to do, then the divorce, and now the after math. 

Deciding to occupy my time and not my thoughts, I grabbed the box that Lee had mentioned Louis dropped off. It was covered poorly in newspaper as if Louis had never wrapped a gift in his life. Despite this, it was oddly charming, kind of like it’s owner.

Hello Ms. Clementine, look what I found in Aunt Minnie’s trunk. Look familiar?   
-Louis

I let out a huff of amusement at the unnecessarily formal way to address me as I ripped open the packaging with little regard for the paper that I’d have to pick up later, and stared in wonder at the doll it held. Grungy blue hat, bright yellow coat, curly hair, and button eyes greeted my sight. 

It was me… but a doll.

“Well that’s not creepy at all,” I said sarcastically to myself.

I placed the doll down on the table in the bit of space not taken up by bills and papers. The movement caught Lee’s tired eyes as he listened to the drone of Aubrey’s voice. He put a hand over the phone again to muffle his voice.

“What’s that?” he asked, seemingly grateful for a reason to block out his ex-wife.

“A mini-me,” I said. “Louis found it in his Aunt’s house.”

Lee reached out and caressed it, “Looks old, I doubt he made it for you.”

Strangely, I hadn’t even thought about the chance he’d made it just to creep me out.

“Yep,” I said, picking up the toy again. “Either way, I’m too old for dolls.”

Lee smiled, “Better luck next time Louis.”

I refrained from saying ‘if there is a next time’ because Lee seemed happy that I was making friends. Well, as happy as he could be in our current situation. Waving away the less than ideal thoughts, I made my way to AJ’s room. He’d been suspiciously quiet as of late and I didn’t want him up to no good or bothering Lee when he was dealing with Aubrey. As much as I loved the kid, he wouldn’t understand what was going on until he was older, which meant I felt like I needed to shield it from him until the day I didn’t need to anymore.

“Hey kiddo?” I poked my head around his door.

Alvin Junior’s hair was poking out from behind his bed as he tried to pretend he wasn’t there. It was a valiant effort, but alas, not valiant enough. I slowly tiptoed my way over to the bed, making sure he thought I’d left to look elsewhere. When I saw him relax and breathe a sigh of relief, I flopped onto the bed noisily, causing him to jump violently.

“Clem!” He cried, an angry tint to his voice before he saw my smile.

“Sorry kiddo,” I said, not feeling sorry at all. 

AJ frowned.

“You did better this time,” I said, bopping him on the head.

AJ suddenly perked up, “Oh yeah! I didn’t even bite you!”

I chuckled, “Good thing for that too, my hands are already having a bad day.”

I held up my palms to AJ for his inspection, wiggling my fingers for effect. He frowned at them, and like the sweetheart he was, held them lightly in his own.

“Do they still hurt?” he asked, a worried expression passing his face.

I felt touched that he cared so much that he’d still insist on asking every time he saw me how my hand were going. It was both great and not so great. Great because he had such a good heart, but not so great because it only made me more compelled to keep him in the dark about Aubrey and all the messiness that came with it.

“Not at all,” I said, although it was a lie.

They were itchy… so, so itchy.

“Good,” said AJ, picking up the thing he was playing with before. It was a small firefighter toy, one I’d never seen before. AJ had a bit of a track record of finding things and claiming them as his, so I hoped this wasn’t one of those times.

“Where’d that come from goofball?” I asked.

“Someone gave it to me,” AJ said. “His sister owns the building. Lee said it was supposed to be a house-warming gift, whatever that means.”

“Huh,” I said noncommittally. If Lee said it was fine, then so be it.

“What’s that?” AJ said suddenly, grabbing mini-Clem from my hands.

He studied the doll at an arms length, turning it all over to inspect it at every angle.

“AJ, you can’t just take things,” I said, plucking the toy from his hands and giving him a look.

“Sorry…” AJ said. “What is it though? Why does it look like you?”

I sighed, “I dunno why. Crazy coincidence I guess.”

“Where’d you get it?” AJ said.

“What is this, an interrogation?” I said lightly, AJ shaking his head with vigor to tell me I was wrong. “I guess you could call it a house warming gift too.”

“Was it from Louis?”

My eyebrows shot up at the mention of his name, “How did you know that?”

“He came by earlier to drop something off after Tenn did,” AJ said. “He was nice.”

I guessed that ‘Tenn’ was the man AJ said gave him the fireman toy.

“Okay,” I said, “that’s enough talk. Why don’t we go do something together?”

AJ’s face lit up and I felt guilty that a large part of my offer was to keep him out of the kitchen. Either way, AJ didn’t seem to notice and got up as quick as a rabbit, eager to get going. I smiled fondly at him as he followed me around the house to the office for a pen and paper. When I asked if he wanted to join me, I didn’t exactly have a plan of what to do, but exploring an old house we just moved into seemed like a good idea.

So a good part of my day was spent with AJ, roaming the empty house. We came up with things to search for or places to hide, anything to keep us entertained. The house itself seemed to enjoy the activity. Every time we thought we’d seen it all, it revealed something else to ponder in its rickety old insides. Counted every window in the house? Nope, there’s one behind a painting or a cupboard. Found every place to conceal a hidden item? Nope, here’s another nook to spot.

AJ insisted on bringing the ‘Clemendoll’ as he called it. I would try to leave it in a room so I wouldn’t have to lug it around, but it always seemed find me again. I knew AJ was moving it, but every time I told him to stop he insisted it wasn’t him. In the end I let him have his fun without scolding him. It wasn’t doing any harm.

Eventually we wound up in the living room and I was searching for where AJ planted the doll while he was happily counting the cracks in the walls. I spotted mini-me behind a mattress box against the wall, poking out like it was in a game of hide and seek. Sighing, I reached out and pulled it away but my eye caught something on the wall. I shoved the box aside and got a full view of the small door it hid.

“Huh,” I muttered, “it’s a door.”

It was probably nothing interesting, nothing to note at all, but for some reason I wanted to see the door opened. 

Really, really badly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> °•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•
> 
> Hello again, thank you for reading this uneventful chapter! I promise things will start to pick up soon, I’m trying to follow Coraline’s script while also making it interesting in the slow parts, but it’s proving harder than I thought. Do you have any thoughts? Have you picked up any spelling errors? Was my characterisation of Lee, Clem or AJ off? Do you want to place bets on who will claim any other roles? 
> 
> Now, the moment you’ve been waiting for! Louis’ last name (if you’ve forgotten) is Molendoy. A little while ago Kent Mudle, creative director (I’m pretty sure) on this season of the walking dead game was asked what last names the characters of the final season would have. Jokingly, Kent replied with various hilarious names including Marlon ‘Ratking’. While I was pondering a last name for Louis (and a way to get the other characters some) I came across said post. Molendoy is a word scramble of Kent’s Louis ‘Oldmoney’. I warned you it wasn’t that interesting, but there you go.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and will stay tuned for the next!


	4. Old Faces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In one door and out another, Clementine meets The Others.

“Hey Lee?” I poked my head out from the kitchen door.

Lee lifted his head as if it were made of lead, reading glasses sliding off his face. When he saw me leaning against the wall he smiled, “Hey sweetpea, what is it?’

“If you're not busy, I was wondering if you could help me out,” I said hopefully, but trying not to sound it.

Lee sighed, looking regretfully at his work before nodding. As he followed me to the stacked mattress box I had found earlier, he gave me a comforting pat on the shoulder, as if he could tell I was worried. Although my family was close, we weren’t completely faultless. It was there in the way Lee’s eyes were always tired, the way I herded AJ out the room when Aubrey would call and the silent stand offs that would play out when I was feeling less understanding. It all came to my mind when I’d see Lee looking aged beyond his years, but still find it in him to smile for us.

“There’s a door here,” I said. “I was wondering if you had the key.”

Lee softly chuckled at the tiny lock behind the boxes, “Trust you to find every nook and cranny of this place.”

Lee walked back to the kitchen and returned with a sharp black key. He used it to cut the wallpaper that was plastered over the door before slotting the key into the hole. When it swung open I expected some grand reveal, but all I saw were bricks.

“Huh,” I said.

“No secret room then,” Lee said. “I was looking forward to having an extra study.”

“They must’ve closed it up when they divided the house,” I said.

“Seems like it,” Lee said, stretching a bit. “Sorry to disappoint sweetpea.”

“I didn’t really expect there to be anything anyway,” I lied.

When Lee went back to the kitchen to work through the last of his divorce papers (or ‘university papers’ as he would tell us) I gave the door one last look. Even if it was boarded up, I felt something was off about it. Like there was something waiting on the other side.

“It’s just a door,” I mumbled, closing it shut without the help of the key.

•°•°•°◊°•°•°•

The bed sheets were as soft as they were last night. The old house was cold when the sun went down, so I made an effort to regain the heat by smothering myself in blankets and pillows. The bright screen of my phone lit up my face like a torch during a ghost story as I scrolled through pictures of my friends. Gabe and Mariana were at a baseball game earlier that day with their uncle Javier, Sarah had been at a café with her college friends and Kenneth Junior was still posting videos of the two ducks that liked to fight outside his house.

I ended up posting a photo of that ‘Clemendoll’ Louis gave me, along with some of the house and garden. It almost looked as if I was working on some horror movie franchise.

@Gabe_The_Babe - Wow, crazy doll!!! How long did that take to make?

@CitrusBurnsYourEyes – @Gabe_The_Babe I didn’t make it, this boy who lives here found it in some dusty attic and thought it looked like me.

@QuackingMad – @CitrusBurnsYourEyes he was right though, it does look like ya

@Musicbeforeliterallyeverythingelse – @QuackingMad no shit

@Gabe_The_Babe – @CitrusBurnsYourEyes oooohhh, so it was a guy huh ;)

@CitrusBurnsYourEyes – @Gabe_The_Babe You’re so immature. Yes, it was a guy, a friend, who is a guy. Not my future boyfriend.

@Musicbeforeliterallyeverythingelse –@CitrusBurnsYourEyes don’t speak so soon. some girl or guy has to come through and sweep you off your feet at some point. why not make it creepy doll dude?

I chuckled quietly to myself as my friends chatted in the comments about the possibility of me getting a boyfriend or a girlfriend before they could see me again. It was nice to see them passive aggressively arguing with each other as if nothing had changed. I missed them a lot, but times like that really made me feel at home.

Yawning, I set my phone down and curled up tight to ward off the cold. I took a glance at where I knew the doll would be on my nightstand. It stared at me with lifeless button eyes, slowly making me uncomfortable.

I laid it down so it wasn’t looking at me and said, “Good night mini-me…”

My head slowly filled with emptiness as I fell asleep.

•°•°•°◊°•°•°•

“Shit!” I bolted up straight and grabbed the closest hard object.

There was a noise that woke me up. It was a hard insistent tap that broke through my hazy sleep and set me on edge. At first I’d thought someone was trying to break in, but on second thought, that was stupid. I slowly put down the… lamp? Yeah, I picked up my lamp. What would a lamp have done against a burglar?

There was a scratching, chattering coming from under me, so I took a peek over the side of my blankets. It was a ghost white… kangaroo mouse? It jumped out from under the bed and hopped on out my door.

It wasn’t a burglar after all.

“What the…”

I quickly got out of my bed and chased after it down the hall, just fast enough to see it duck into the living room and behind the mattress box. It was cornered between the mystery door and the box, so when I moved the cardboard out the way I thought I’d be able to get a better look at it, but instead it was gone.

“The door is open?” I said to myself, rubbing my eyes to make sure I wasn’t seeing wrong.

I softly pried it open the rest of the way to see a dark expanding tunnel. It was the blues and purples of desert twilight, glowing and shifting like sand. The sight mesmerised me as I thought of the bricked up wall it used to be. In a bit of a daze, I ducked my head down, squeezed through the opening and began to crawl towards the light at the end.

When I stepped out at the finish, I was dumbfounded to see the living room again. It was just like it as before but… nicer. It was more homely, with the rich scent of home cooked meals, washing detergent and cinnamon. It was everything I had wanted it to be one day.

From across the hall, a warm glow and tantalizing smell emanated from the kitchen.

“Something smells really good…”

I slowly crept through the kitchen door to see Lee facing the oven, that old ‘Best Cook’ apron I had got for his birthday when I was eleven strapped to his front.

“Lee?” I said, moving into the room. “What’re you doing? It’s the middle of the night, you need to sleep sometime you know.”

Lee turned around and smiled at me, but I had to take a step back in horror. It was like having a bucket of ice water dumped on your head from behind. I felt cold and mislead, even afraid at the fantastically horrible sight in front of me. Sewed onto his eyes were big, black buttons, hard and shiny under the light. It sent an unearthly chill down my spine, negating the loving atmosphere the rest of the house gave.

“You’re not Lee,” I said. “What’s with the get up and the button eyes?”

I really praised my ability to sound calm when I was a mess. Nothing here made any sort of sense. I went through a door that led to the same place I left and I didn’t feel like I was crawling in a circle. Then there was the warmth the house now gave off that couldn’t have been achieved in the moments I was going through the tunnel.

Plus, how would someone have sewed buttons to Lee’s eyes without any of us hearing?

“Get up?” it was Lee’s voice that trickled out the button-eyed freak’s mouth. “Not exactly the reaction I was hoping, but…”

I glared at the imposter; sure that this was either a dream or some crazy psycho playing mind games. Subtly, I pinched my hand and felt a rush of denial when I felt it.

“You are right though, I’m not Lee,” the man said. “I’m Other Lee, sweetie pie. And no, you’re not dreaming, and no, I’m not crazy.”

“I find that hard to believe,” I growled.

This felt so real, too real. Logic said this was some kind of dream, but Logic also said I shouldn’t be able to feel myself pinch my arm, but here we are.

“Oh well,” Lee shrugged, and I was thrown off by how lively Lee looked when he wasn’t drowning in work, “I can’t force you to believe me. Just know that if you want some, I got a lovely casserole waiting for you.”

He placed down a delicious looking meal on the table with three places set up. The sight of the trio of plates flicked a switch inside me.

“Where is AJ?” I demanded.

If this Lee-look alike had touched a hair on his head, I was going to kill him.

“In his room,” Other Lee said, nodding down the hall. “Bring him in for dinner if you would Clem, It’d be nice to have a family meal.”

I took off down the wooden floor to burst into AJ’s room, my system flooding with relief to see him playing with his toys. I was so worried that something had happened, the fear and guilt of him hurt was like a snake slithering up my spine. I just needed to work out what was going on, get to AJ, find the real Lee and then leave.

“AJ!” I ran up to him and hugged him from the back, pulling him in close to me to make sure he was real. He was real, by the way, completely real.

Yet something felt off.

“Clem!” Alvin Junior giggled excitedly. “Did you want to play with me?”

“Listen AJ,” I spoke into his hair, “we need to leave. There’s a crazy man in the kitchen that thinks he’s some Other Lee. We need to go.”

If I took AJ with me to Lee’s room I could go around the back of the house undetected and out of view from the kitchen. If Lee wasn’t there I would just have to get out and call the police without him.

“But Clem,” AJ slowly got out of my grip, “he is Other Lee.”

When AJ faced me, I realised what was wrong. Sewed onto his eyes were two black buttons, just like Imposter Lee’s. I should have known when I approached him from behind and he didn’t react that something was up.

“You’re not AJ,” I said, backing away.

Or worse, he was AJ, and something very bad had happened to my family while I was sleeping.

“I’m Other AJ, Clem,” the boy smiled. “I’m so glad you came to visit us! It’s been lonely without you.”

“But you’re not…” I stuttered. “This can’t be…”

“Real?” Other AJ tilted his head. “Why not?”

Why not? Because I pinched myself and I felt it, yet all this is out of some bizarre nightmare. It felt and looked real, but I knew it had to be fake. It was messing with my head in ways I couldn’t even try to unpack.

“Because these things don’t just happen!” I said, voicing all the thought swirling in my head. “You don’t go through some door that was bricked up and end up in some parallel universe!”

“But you did,” Other AJ frowned, “what’s the problem?”

“The problem?!” I got to my feet and lowly backed up to the door. “The problem is that this can’t be happening. I have to be dreaming.”

Other AJ got up and smiled at me, “Okay, Clem. You can be dreaming.”

I squinted at him, “What?”

“If you want this to be a dream, why can’t it be?”

He was so much like AJ. Surely only my mind could play a trick this cruel and realistic. I had to be lucid dreaming or something. Maybe I was just confused when I thought I felt that pinch. Or maybe in a dream you think you feel things and it messes you up. Realistically, none of this could have happened while I was in bed. It was all inside my head then. It had to be. It would explain the creepy button eyes and the way the house seemed so nice now.

It was just a dream Clementine. It was just a dream.

“Okay…” I conceded. If this were a dream, playing along wouldn’t hurt. It would be weird, but it wouldn’t hurt. Plus, who knew what this dream could morph into if I provoked it. “Other Lee said dinner was ready?”

“Great!” AJ grinned and grabbed my hand, leading me to the kitchen again.

I could only hope that if I played along I’d be able to wake up in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> °•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•
> 
> Hello again, thank you for reading this more eventful chapter! Things happened this time! We finally get introduced to Other Lee and Other AJ, what do you think about them? Clementine is a lot more suspicious of these Others than Coralline was in the movie; mainly because those two are different people and I think they’d react to the situation in a different way. Eventually, Clem plays along to avoid anything crazy happening, but at the beginning she’s much less accepting than Coralline was. Did you like this take on the scene? 
> 
> I love it when you guys answer the questions I ask, try guessing who’ll be who, have suggestions and pick me up on any mistakes, so thank you for those who do that! 
> 
> Do you have any thoughts? Have you picked up any spelling or grammar errors? Was my characterisation of Lee, Clem or AJ off? 
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and will stay tuned for the next!


	5. New Mysteries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clementine sits down with her Other family.

"At least it looks good…" I muttered to myself, eyeing the massive casserole in the middle of the table.

Around the wooden bench were train tracks and other inventions made to look pretty and carry condiments. It was whimsical and lively in a large contrast to the ghastly button eyed people sitting next to me. It was the craziest dream I had ever had and that was saying something. I would be sure to tell my friends all about it just to see their faces contort in confusion and laughter.

Maybe horror too, depending how it all went.

AJ was digging into his meal like it was the diamond equivalent of food. It looked really nice, smelled really nice and even if I was in a dream I wondered what it would taste like.

I hesitantly shoved a mouthful down my throat.

"Holy shit," I said.

"Good, isn't it, Clem?" AJ beamed. I grimaced as his black soulless buttons trained on my face, light bouncing off the nighttime shade of plastic. "Want some gravy?"

"Why not?"

The train looped around the tack and over to my plate, a waterfall of hot gravy spilling on my plate. It was like something out of… well… a dream. Since that was what it was, I might as well have enjoyed the amazing imaginary food.

"Um- Other Lee?" the name felt weird on my tongue. "Are there any drinks?"

His face came up to meet my stare and if I ignored all the lovely sights around me I felt an overwhelming sense of wrongness. The jump from 'beautiful dream land' to 'terrifying nightmare' was stark and jolting, like being surprised with a bucket of ice water.

"Of course sweetie," he grinned, an action that both made me wish for another smile on Lee's face and feel sick because this man was only wearing his skin, and clapping his hands.

The chandelier slowly lowered itself to a foot above the table, the refracted light from the crystals bathing the room in shimmering spots. The contraption opened up, inside each branch was a different liquid. There was bubbly, frothy, and hot and anything else I could have dreamed of. It mesmerised me. Quickly, I started to think that even with the rocky start, this was one of the weirdest and most wonder-filled dreams I'd ever had.

Of course with a side of creepy impersonators, though. Nothing came without its price.

"Wow," I said, my mind giving up on trying to understand the pure nonsense of the machine. "Are there chocolate milkshakes?"

"Of course dear," Other Lee smiled (I found that if I looked away from his eyes I didn't feel like running full speed out the room) and pulled down one of the arms like a lever. The drink poured itself out and into my cup like some chocolate waterfall.

As I sipped on the amazing milkshake, Lee and AJ excitedly pulled out a cake from under a cover and slid it in front of me. My jaw dropped at the meticulously crafted icing words that spelled, 'Welcome Home Clementine!'

"Home?" I said, the word sounding as if it were said in another language.

Other Lee wrapped an arm around Other AJ and smiled warmly at me. They were so happy there, looking at me in wonder and joy, as if everything revolved around me. I tried to erase the buttons from their eyes in my mind, replacing it with their chocolate hues. It made me feel an overwhelming sense of longing that I couldn't even begin to stamp down. I wanted this to be my family. In my heart all I wanted was for us to be happy and live well. For this to be a home.

"We've been waiting for you, Clem!" Other AJ said excitedly, hands on the table as he leaned towards me. "It hasn't been the same without you!"

I knew, in the moment, that everything was a dream. That nothing said or done or thought was ever going to be real. That this Other AJ wasn't a real person and thus couldn't even feel overjoyed with my presence, but I'm selfish. I always have been. And because I'm selfish, I let myself feel happy that these imaginary people wanted me. I let myself forget that my real family needed me to be strong and to help out and to be there. I let myself play make-believe that for once just my presence was enough to brighten the room.

It was all a dream, but if I squinted I couldn't tell their eyes were made of plastic.

"I suppose you're gonna tell me you've been waiting this whole time?" I said, wondering if it was possible for anyone to love a person so much they'd do such a thing.

"That we have kiddo," Other Lee said, fixing me with a gentle stare. "Don't feel pressured though, now you're here we have all the time in the world."

"Yeah Clem," Other AJ pitched in. "We're smart! We can make time do whatever we want, whenever we want."

God, it was so weird to see AJ so unabashedly happy. I felt a stab of shame at once again liking it.

"Y'know what?" Other Lee said. "How's about we play a game?"

"I'd love too," Other AJ agreed. "I'm sure Clem does too."

I squinted, "What, no last-minute university papers? No 'not tonight guys'? Do you even have a job?"

"Don't need a job here," Other Lee chuckled. "I have time for you whenever you need it, sweetie."

Time for me whenever I needed it? If only.

"This is too good to be true," I said, because it was. It was wonderful and terrifying and never going to last, but I wanted to know if I could find a happy ending in this dream. If in this realm of my mind, there for once wasn't a down side.

"It's only too good to be true if you think it is," Other Lee said. "It's alright to be skeptical, I'd be worried if you weren't. As I said, you have all the time in the world to trust me. In the meantime though, why not get something for that poison ivy rash, hmm?"

I'm suddenly jolted out of the calming river of his words at the mention of my hands. I hadn't even told them about it.

The button eyes became a lot harder to ignore.

"Uh, how did you- never mind. I'd love to stay and all, but I think I should get back to my other Lee."

"But I am Other Lee."

"You know what I meant. It's late, time for bed and all, right?"

Other Lee briefly looked down the hall before smiling at me, "Of course sweetie, your bed's already made up if you're ready to go."

I nodded, taking myself down the wooden floor as my Other family followed close behind.

I wasn't ready for the sight of my bedroom, transformed as much as the rest of the house. It was filled with rich colour and light, the before old and worn bed sheets a new and pleasant shade of orange with a lace canopy above. There was even a fireplace spewing warmth and light from the opposite side of the room.

"Holy shit," I said again.

"Swear," Other AJ scolded me.

"Sorry," I said on instinct, gingerly setting foot inside the room.

Just like the wonder of the dining table train, from the roof of the place a swarm of beautifully crafted origami birds swooped down gracefully to greet me. They chirped happily and settled on my arms and head, a flurry of movement and colour. From the other side of the room a teddy bear Duck got me for my ninth birthday waved at me, looking good as new.

"Hey Clem, long time no see!" Came a voice I hadn't heard in a while, their figure in a picture frame jumping up and down with the rest of the people inside.

"Shit, Gabe?" I asked in wonder, holding up the picture frame. "This is photo, how are you guys..?"

"Does it matter?" Mariana grinned from the paper.

"We can't wait to catch up some time!" Sarah smiled. "But I guess it's night now, so talk to you later?"

Despite myself, I was grinning like the cat that had caught the canary. I didn't realise how much I'd missed my friends' voices. How much I wanted to see their smiles. In person. With me.

I hugged the frame once in an embarrassing move before placing it gently on the table again. Other Lee came forward as I slowly inched into bed, shuffling a bit away from his figure. He smiled as if he hadn't noticed and gestured for me to place my hand in his. After a few more seconds than necessary, I slowly reached mine out, ready to snatch it away at any second.

"Oh, for my rash…" I yawned as he smoothed an ointment into my skin.

He let out another breathy chuckle, "See you soon Clementine."

"See ya Clem," Other AJ waved excitedly from the doorway.

Even if it was a dream and I knew I'd never have it again, I couldn't help but entertain the idea of coming back and living in this perfect Other world.

I would just ignore the big, grey button moon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> °•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•
> 
> Hello, hello! Sorry this chapter's is short as hell (just like all the others really). As you could probably tell, I couldn't really pick a direction for the dinner scene. On one hand, I could have gone full Willy Wonka chocolate factory with all the wonder and homeliness. On the other, I could have gone full Resident evil dinner scene. In the end I chose something in the middle, with Clementine clearly freaked out by the button eyed Others, but at the same time longing to live in a place so perfect. I hope I got my vision across right, and if you have any tips to make it better I would be happy to hear them!
> 
> As always, please leave me with your thoughts and ideas, I love hearing from people! Did you spot a spelling mistake? Find a bit where the characters acted weird? Just thought I could have written something better? If so, please make sure to tell me, I'll be eternally grateful!
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and will stay tuned for the next!


	6. New People

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clementine ignores a warning and meets some interesting people.

I was very distracted the next day. From the moment I woke up to the Clemendoll on the bench beside me, I felt as if the world was covered in a faint fog. The dream I had the night before still clung to my consciousness like super glue, despite most other dreams of mine leaving as soon as I woke up. 

I didn’t mention it to Lee or AJ, feeling guilty about the whole thing. I knew it was just a dream and it meant nothing, but I felt bad for liking the other dimension. I would never abandon my family, but it had been nice to escape for a while.

“Hey sweet pea,” Lee mumbled as I handed him some coffee, “what’re you doing up at seven?”

“Felt like being productive today,” I said.

“Well, if that’s the case, could you hand out the mail on our doorstep, not all of it is ours,” Lee asked.

“Yeah sure,” I said, giving him a hug. “Don’t work too hard.”

The brass handle of the door was cold and pleasant against my hand. For a moment I wondered why that was startling, but eventually I realised that it was because the rash on my hand was gone. As if the ointment from the dream was real.

Shaking the thought from my head, I picked up the parcels on our porch and read off the names. Mr. Tirkang had a package of foul smelling something, and Mr. Awelkr had something that I assumed was a picture frame sent to him. 

As I walked up the stairs along the side of the house to Mr. Tirkang’s residence, I couldn’t help but have my thoughts wonder. The foggy horizon I had adventured to previous captured my eye and reminded me of Louis. He was far more pleasant to think about than the button-eyed people that plagued my thoughts. I hoped that I would see him again, if only because Lee expected me to make new friends. 

When I reached my destination I knocked a few times in the hopes that someone was home.

Luckily, the door swung open to reveal a boy about my age with a blond mullet and letterman jacket. The hair cut threw me off for a solid few seconds in which I tried not to laugh. It looked like a dead cat.

“Oh, uh, hey,” I said, holding out the mail or him, “our packages got mixed up so I came here to give yours to you.”

“Thanks,” the boy smiled at me. “Sorry about the smell, it’s cheese.”

“You should be sorry, “ I said teasingly, “it was a nightmare. A whole fifty meters with the stench of death in my hands.”

The boy laughed, “Yeah, imagine living with the stuff, then talk to me about a nightmare.”

“How do you possibly survive?” I said, taking a peek into the house.

“Nose plugs and scented candles,” he said. 

The inside of the doorway was an absolute mess to say the least. Clothes, dishes and papers were littered everywhere the eye could see. I was immediately appalled at the state of it, but soon my disgust turned to concern. Why didn’t this kid’s parents clean up, or at least tell their son to? I wouldn’t have lived in there if someone paid me.

“Hey, you wouldn’t happen to be Clementine would you?” the boy asked, subtly closing the door slightly with his foot.

“Yeah, that’s me,” I said. “How’d you know?”

“I’m Marlon,” he extended me a hand, “Louis mentioned you.”

“Good things I hope,” I shook his hand.

“Only the best. I’d say anyone who can elbow someone in the face like that is good in my book.”

“Yeah,” I cringed, “I forgot to tell him I’m sorry. How’s his face?”

“Smug with a side of ugly I’d say, but I’m his best friend, so…” Marlon teased and I rolled my eyes.

“You know what I meant.”

“Yeah, he’s got a wicked bruise on his cheek, but he’s more impressed than mad,” Marlon gave me a knowing look, but I didn’t know what he was trying to imply.

“Well,” I said, looking down at the other parcel in my hand, “it was nice meeting you Marlon.”

“Nice meeting you too Clementine.”

There was a small crash in the background, coming from Marlon’s house. The boy sighed and watched as a mouse raced out from inside and to his feet. It sniffed his shoes and before it could decide to eat his laces or something, he scooped it up and into his hands.

“Sorry about that,” Marlon apologised, “my dad is, uh, not good at keeping his mice in their cages.”

“They’re not meant to be in cages Marlon!” A low voice from inside insisted. “They are performers, and as such should never be confined to a prison!”

“Performers?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Dad used to be in the circus when he was younger,” Marlon took a glance inside. “He thought he should try again.”

“How’s that going for you?”

“Not well, if the rampant mice say anything.”

“Marlon, help me over here!” The older man inside said, although I couldn’t see him.

“Bye Clementine.”

And with that I was walking down the stairs.

Louis had mentioned Marlon, I thought. He said something about only living here half the time?

I assumed his parents were split for… many reasons.

Soon enough I found myself outside Mr. Awelkr’s door. I didn’t know what to expect this time, but the smell of strong tea and sugar was not one of them. As soon as the door was open, I was greeted with the sight of an older man, possibly in his sixties or a very young looking seventy year old. He was likely of Asian decent, greying, and with a face full of lines, but tall and serene too somehow. He looked like someone you’d find reading children’s stories to young kids at a library. He had a timeless look about him.

“Hi, I’m clementine, a package of yours was left on my doorstep.”

The man smiled at me slightly and took the paper into his hands. His movements were slow but precise as he opened it in front of me. It was a picture frame, as I suspected, and before I could see who was in it, the man opened his door wider and gestured more me to go inside.

“My name’s James, it’s nice to meet you Clementine,” James said, closing the door softly behind me. “Have a seat. It’s not often I see new faces.”

“I don’t want to intrude,” I said cautiously, eyeing the very comfortable, but old décor inside the living room.

“Nonsense,” he said kindly, “the least I can do to thank you if offer some tea.”

Since I hadn’t had breakfast, tea sounded nice, “If you’re sure.”

I might as well get to know my new neighbor, I thought, I’m living here now after all.

Before I knew it, I was seated on the couch with a mug in my hands as James placed the picture on one of his shelves. He had a lot stuffed in his cabinets and draws, mostly souvenirs or medals and cards. It was a very worn-in place. Not a spot looked too untouched, but in the nice, homey way.

“You seem troubled,” his soft voice shook my out of my observations.

“Not really,” I lied, ignoring how my eyes darted to a velvet case with two buttons resting inside.

“Believe it or not,” he said, taking a seat, “being old has made me a good lie detector. What’s on your mind?”

There’s no harm in telling him, I reasoned with myself, it was just some stupid dream. The worst that could happen is he thinks I’m overreacting.

So I told him, and as I went through the lovely food and the wonderful atmosphere, and the creepy eyes, he slowly grew solemn. As if he knew something I didn’t. As if he was watching a play on a stage where the whole cast ended up dead by curtain call.

“So yeah…” I finished, ending with the poison ivy mystery. “That was some dream. It’s just been bothering me a little.”

“I see,” he said.

For a moment he did nothing but contemplate. It was strange that James had such a reaction to my story, but maybe he was into dream-prophecy things and thought it meant something bad.

“Well, if you’d like some advice, I have some,” he said, going over to one of his shelves and taking down a small rock. “You don’t need to follow it.”

“Advice sounds nice,” I said.

The man brought the triangle stone to the table and set it down. It had a hole in the middle where I could see the wood through it. The next thing he set down was the velvet case. My eyes were immediately drawn to it like moths to a flame. The buttons were innocent and harmless looking as they sat in the bed of fabric. They almost looked inviting.

“You don’t seem to be one for superstition,” he started, “but I think there can be ordinary things with unordinary meanings.”

“I’m open to most things,” I said, “I just prefer facts over fiction.”

“I think you’re in danger Clementine,” he said, and I suddenly go cold. “There’s something trying to reach you… grab you… take you.”

“Well, what should I do?” I said. 

I didn’t believe in stars and fate and dreams that become real, but I was always a girl of caution when it came to things I didn’t understand. It would be nice, if redundant, to know what he thought I should do.

“Stay true to what is most important to you,” he said, glancing down at the buttons, “and be careful.”

Despite being ominous, in the end, the advice wasn’t anything special. If I was really in danger, he should have said something like, ‘carry a mace.’ Regardless, I didn’t want to be rude, and I had enjoyed letting out my worries to him. He was a nice man, if a bit soft and secluded. 

“Thank you Mr. Awelkr,” I said, standing up, “it was nice talking to you.”

“Just James is fine,” he said, following me to the door. As I passed, the masks and the trophies hanging on the wall caught my eye. James must’ve been into theatre when he was younger.

“Thank you James.”

“Be careful Clementine.”

I didn’t see any reason to, but I nodded nonetheless. 

It was just a stupid dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> °•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•
> 
> End Note: Hello again! It’s been forever, I’m so sorry for taking so long to update! Things have been busy for me lately, so I’m finding it harder to take time to write. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, no matter how filler it was. I haven’t written in a while so the start of the chapter is pretty poorly written, but I hope you can forgive me.
> 
> What did you think about me adding Marlon and James? Did you like their placement? Did you dislike it? Do you have any theories on what’s to come next? I’m not familiar with how to write James (or any of them really) so please tell me if you know how I can improve!  
> Please leave me with your thoughts and ideas and don’t be shy to comment. I love hearing from you! Did you spot a spelling mistake? Thought I could have written something better or didn’t phrase something correctly? If so, please make sure to tell me, I'll be eternally grateful!
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and have a nice day!


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